Hurricane Irma: What we know now in Southwest Florida

Thousands of people line up Saturday to enter a hurricane shelter at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. The line is more than a mile long. Residents throughout Florida are seeking last minute shelter in advance of Hurricane Irma.
Kinfay Moroti/news-press.com

Sanibel prepares for Hurricane Irma.(Photo11: David Spencer/Special to news-press.com)

As Hurricane Irma continued to linger over the north coast of Cuba at 5 p.m. Saturday, most projections still have the Category 3 storm on a collision course with Southwest Florida.

Residents and local governments in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties are hoping for the best but are preparing for the worst.

Here's what we now know about Irma and how Southwest Florida is bracing itself:

1. Currently, the storm's maximum sustained winds are near 125 mph with higher gusts making Irma's current strength a Category 3 storm.

However, Irma is forecast to restrengthen once it moves away from Cuba. The National Hurricane Center advisory said Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida.

The National Hurricane Center's projected path for Hurricane Irma as of 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, 2017(Photo11: National Hurricane Center)

2. A northwest motion is expected to begin later today with a turn toward the north-northwest on Sunday. On the forecast track, the core of Irma is expected to reach the Florida Keys Sunday morning. The hurricane is expected to move along or near the southwest coast of Florida on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday’s projections from the National Hurricane Center show potential storm surge flooding greater than 9 feet above ground in Port Royal, Aqualane Shores and Royal Harbor. The same severe flooding could inundate Lely, parts of East Naples and Bonita Springs.

Coastal Collier and Lee counties could see flooding up to 15 feet, according to the latest local forecast from the National Weather Service. Virtually all of Southwest Florida has the potential to see at least 3 feet of flooding.

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Fort Myers Beach, Florida residents, Mike and Bo Dwyer secure their home in preparation of Hurricane Irma on Friday 9/8/2017. They were planning to ride out the storm in Fort Myers. (Photo11: Andrew West/The News-Press)

The county has ordered all homes to evacuate that are south of Pine Ridge Road and in between U.S. 41 and Airport-Pulling Road. Evacuations are also in place for homes south of Radio Road in between Airport-Pulling and Santa Barbara Boulevard.

The county also evacuated much of Big Cypress National Preserve, all homes south of Sabal Palm and Winding Cypress boulevards and east of Collier Boulevard.

5. About 22,000 people have been sheltered in Lee County and most places are full. Germain Arena in Estero has long lines of evacuees seeking shelter, and officials are waiving background checks to get people inside as soon as possible.

Four Lee County shelters still have space. They are:

Germain Arena, 11000 Everglades Parkway, Estero

Mirror Lakes Elementary School, 525 Charwood Ave. South, Lehigh Acres

North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts, 1856 Arts Way, North Fort Myers

At 12 noon, the county added more shelters to the list – within 20 minutes the new shelter at Vineyards Elementary was full. By 12:35 p.m., Highlands Elementary had space for only 170 people. By 3 p.m., all Immokalee shelters were full.

As of 1 p.m., 14,400 evacuees had packed into Collier County hurricane shelters with time running out.